ARRL News

Solar activity reached moderate levels with an M1.5/1N flare on July 8 from Region 4482.

There are currently five numbered regions on the visible disk. Region 4482 demonstrated continued growth and developed a delta spot within its trailing spot group. Region 4485 displayed new flux emergence. Regions 4486 and 4487 were newly numbered during the period. Region 4481 was stable and remained an unr...

ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® is pleased to announce that member Ben Leovy, KC3ZPQ, of Ellicott City, Maryland, has been named the winner of the 2026 ARRL Student Coding Competition. Leovy, 16, recently completed his sophomore year at Howard High School. He designed a mobile application to help users prepare for their amateur radio license examinations.

Leovy will receive a $5...

Fred Johnson, K6FRD, is an amateur radio operator in Riverside, California. Like many hams, he lives in an HOA-controlled neighborhood. For Johnson, finding practical, low-visibility, antenna solutions has become part of the fun over the years.

“For years I struggled to enjoy HF because, like many amateurs in an HOA, towers and conventional outdoor antennas simply aren't an option,” said Johnson...

ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® has announced the appointment of Ray Sokola, K9RS, of Wilmington, Delaware, as Vice Director for the ARRL Atlantic Division. The appointment, made by ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, fills the vacancy created in January when former Vice Director Marty Newingham, AG3I, assumed the office of Atlantic Division Director. Sokola will serve the rema...

Attention: Full ARRL members in the ATLANTIC, DAKOTA, DELTA, GREAT LAKES, and MIDWEST Divisions. You have the opportunity to choose a Director and Vice Director to represent you for 3-year terms beginning January 1, 2027.

ARRL is governed by its Board of Directors. A voting Director is chosen by ballot by the full (licensed) ARRL members in each of its 15 divisions. Vice Directors who serve in t...

Solar activity has remained at low levels, with frequent C-level activity in the SE quadrant of the solar disk. The largest flare of the period was a C3.8 on June 24 from Region 4478, which is the large sunspot that Solar Orbiter had been tracking across the Sun’s far side.

While the majority of the flaring activity this period came from 4478, Region 4475 also produced several small C-flares as...

ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® has reported that the nomination period for the 2026 summer season election cycle concluded on Friday, June 5.

There will be one balloted election this summer in Southern Florida. ARRL members in the Southern Florida Section will receive ballots and candidate information via postal mail in July. Daniel Fisher, AI4GK, and incumbent Barry Porter, KB...

ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® has announced the appointment of Robert Ronk, W9AP, of Winneconne, Wisconsin, as Vice Director for the ARRL Central Division. The appointment, made by ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, fills the vacancy created in April when former Vice Director Joshua Long, W9HT, assumed the office of Central Division Director. Ronk will complete a term that e...

While many teenagers spend their evenings playing video games or scrolling social media, 14-year-old amateur radio (also known as “ham radio”) operator Micah Sandoval, KB4MPS, was busy this past week making radio contacts across the US. Sandoval participated as part of a special event station supporting the ARRL America250 Worked All States (WAS) Award program, a year-long operating event celeb...

On July 1, 2026, a new Element 2 Technician class question pool will take effect for license examinations. VECs and VEs must have new test designs available for use at exam sessions effective that date. 

The newly revised pool, released in December 2025 (updated and re-released on February 19, 2026) by the Question Pool Committee (QPC) of the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinator...

Solar activity has been low with only C-class solar flare activity.

Region 4465 underwent some decay and only produced a low-levelC-class flare. Region 4469 decayed further and was inactive. Region4470 underwent some growth, but did not increase in magneticcomplexity and was primarily inactive. The largest solar flare of theperiod, a C2.5 on June 17, came from just beyond the west limb withthe l...

Solar activity has been at low levels this past week with most of the C-level activity originating from Region 4465, including the largest flare of the week, a C2.6 observed on June 10. There are currently 7 numbered sunspot regions on the disk with Region 4467 decaying to plage.  

There was a Type-II radio sweep detected by the Radio Solar Telescope Network (RSTN) on June 10. That radio emissio...